Number of Suspected Terrorists Nabbed at US-Mexico Border Spikes Under Biden

A group of Cubans wade across the Rio Grande from Mexico toward the United States in Eagle Pass, Texas, on April 19, 2022. Charlotte Cuthbertson/The Epoch Times

More suspected terrorists have been captured at the U.S.-Mexico border amid an unprecedented surge in illegal immigration under President Joe Biden.

Fifty people with records in the FBI’s Terrorist Screening Database have been nabbed by Border Patrol agents at the southern border between ports of entry between Oct. 1, 2021, and May 30, according to newly released data from Customs and Border Protection (CBP).

That’s up from 35 as of the last release, which took place in April.

The database includes records on people known as terrorists or suspected to be terrorists.

Both the FBI and CBP are part of the Department of Homeland Security.

Neither the department nor CBP responded to requests for comment.

The arrests are a major jump over previous years.

The total in fiscal year 2021, which included several months under the Trump administration, was 15.

The total in the three fiscal years before that was just eight.

The DHS acknowledged in April that dozens of suspected or known terrorists were captured at the border. Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas was initially unable to say whether some had been released into the interior of the country; he later said that some may have been released.

Sen. Rob Portman (R-Ohio), the top Republican on the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, told The Epoch Times in an email that the DHS has continued to refuse to provide data he’s requested on suspected terrorists entering the United States.

“Terrorists are allegedly trying to cross our border now for the same reason that drug cartels are smuggling a record number of people and illicit narcotics into the United States—they all believe the border is open due to the failed policies of this administration,” he said.

Border apprehensions hit an all-time high in 2021 under Biden, whose administration relaxed or reversed key Trump-era immigration enforcement policies.

A new record is on track to be set for Biden’s first full year in office; every month so far has had higher encounter totals, with May arrests the most ever in a single month.

In the current fiscal year, hundreds of thousands of other illegal immigrants have evaded U.S. authorities altogether. These “gotaways,” as they’re called by authorities, almost certainly include others in the Terrorist Screening Database.

“The number of known gotaways continues to increase at a record rate along the southwest border, so we cannot be certain exactly how many known terrorists have entered the U.S. amidst the Biden administration’s disastrous border crisis,” Rep. John Katko (R-N.Y.), the top Republican on the House Homeland Security Committee, said in a statement.

CBP also reported 50 suspected or known terrorists being captured at ports of entry at the southern border since October 2021, and 142 being nabbed at ports of entry at the northern border during the same time.

Arrests at ports of entry are much more common, totaling in the hundreds during the Trump administration and 192 so far this year.

Zero illegal immigrants with records in the Terrorist Screening Database have been captured during this fiscal year between ports of entry at the U.S.-Canada border.